Supermarket Savvy:
Insurers See Success
In Banking Sector

By

Shefali Anand Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Updated July 18, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

Looks like the tortoise may win the big race to build a financial supermarket.

Back in 1998, when the banking colossus known then as Citicorp merged with insurance giant Travelers Group Inc., the $70 billion-plus deal set off rampant speculation of other big bank-and-insurance combinations. Everybody assumed this was the model for the financial supermarket of the future. Then Citigroup Inc. went on to shed the Travelers' insurance...